Here is a story we got from Ian Robertson, our devoted reader, who writes how he spent an incredible Sunday afternoon spent with Ivo and Martina Grgić after last year’s Graševina Festival in Kutjevo.
We had always wanted to visit Vinarija Krauthaker after tasting their wonderful 2009 Graševina TBA (Trockenbeerenauslese wine) at Decanter’s Fine Wine encounter in London and we finally made it last summer after a few days travelling. Although we knew they were normally closed on a Sunday, Jasmina rang and asked if we could visit anyway and they said, ‘Of course, just call us first and we can meet you and show you around’.
We arrived at about three in the afternoon, met up with Ivo and he began to show us around the cellars straight away. Martina joined as a bit later as we were shown around. At this point I thought that was fantastic and soon we would buy some wine and be on our way. Boy, was I wrong!
After being shown around we went upstairs to find some freshly opened Rosé for us to try which was utterly delightful. We sat down to chat a bit and then Ivo began to bring out more wines for us to try along with some pršut, olives, cheeses and crackers. Bottle after bottle arrived for us to try. The stand out for me was the MaDaMe. It is Martina’s own wine named after her, her daughter and her Professor who taught her. It has Muscat up front, a little sweetness and perfect acidity, complex and will definitely age for a couple of years.
The 2011 Pinot Sivi (Pinot Gris) was a winner with tropical fruits on the nose and off dry residual sweetness which won Jasmina over. 2010 Graševina Pomale and Mitrovac were also wonderfully quaffable and the Merlot was equally surprising. More acidity than I expected and much more appealing than a Californian equivalent.
It was a wonderful and completely unexpected afternoon. We truly thought that we’d be there for no more than 30 mins but ended up staying for 3 hours. All the more remarkable considering that we arrived the day after the Kutjevo Graševina Festival and they must have been incredibly tired. They still looked after us as if we were the only visitors they’d ever had. I can’t begin to thank Ivo and Martina enough for their wonderful hospitality, patience and obvious enthusiasm for their wonderful wines. Živjeli!